It’s A Front Row Ticket To The Best Show On Earth

It’s more than just a job, it’s Randy Cohen come alive, where the NYPD conducts advanced experiments on human nature in the Sutphin Boulevard subway station:

The bait is a cheap handcart carrying groceries and $5 in a purse left on a subway platform.
Cops watch nearby, waiting for a would-be thief to snag the items.

It’s a crafty ploy that netted 14 people in its first setup two weeks ago. But while authorities crow that among those nabbed are many serial criminals — including one man previously busted 57 times — critics blast it as everything from entrapment to a costly example of wasted police manpower.

Officials said those busted in Operation Lucky Bag face raps of petit larceny and possession of stolen property, both misdemeanors. They already had a total of 146 prior busts on their criminal records, including grand larcenies, robberies and the attempted murder of a cop, authorities said.

One man, 39-year-old Keith Myers of Brooklyn, previously was arrested 57 times for crimes including bank robbery and grand larceny. He also has a pending drug rap against him.

When Myers was nabbed Feb. 16 outside a Jamaica subway station with his “loot,” he allegedly also was carrying hypodermic needles and spat in the face of the arresting cop, Lt. Gary Abrahall.

“It has been a very successful program,” said police spokesman Chief Michael Collins. “The type of people we find who commit the larceny of removing this bag we leave out are the type of people who are committing all kinds of crimes.”

. . .

One police source disgruntled with the program . . . blasted it a waste of manpower.

The source said there were 10 cops — one sergeant and nine officers — involved in the Jamaica sting that nailed Myers and no other perps during a three-hour surveillance.